1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to pool/billiard cues, more particularly, to an improved ferrule for pool/billiard cues.
2. Description of the Related Art
A billiard/pool cue typically has an elongated shaft, a butt at one end of the shaft and a ferrule mounted at an opposite end which supports a tip. The ferrule is joined to one end of the shaft, typically by means of a tenon projecting out of the end of the shaft and inserted into a hollow bore extending inward from one end of the ferrule.
In use, if the cue is lined up to strike the cue ball off center, spin, draw or follow will impart to the cue ball to cause it to move in a desired direction after it strikes another ball or a rail.
It was well known that during off center hits, the tip, ferrule and the end of the shaft up to the player's hand bridge initially buckles due to loading of the impact forces generated during impact of the tip with a cue ball on the inside edge of the shaft closest to the center of the ball. According to experimentation, a large amount of buckling results in a larger and more undesirable deflection of the cue ball from a path of movement parallel to the cue stroke line than when buckling is minimized.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,437 discloses a billiard/pool cue having a ferrule with a hollow space when it is mounted on the shaft of the cue. Such a structure will absorb a portion of the impact forces so as to permit easy outward flexure of the tip end of the shaft. This outward flexure of the tip end of the shaft minimizes inward buckling of the tip end of the shaft on off center hits and results in less deflection of the cue ball from the line of stroke of the cue.
However, the billiard/pool cue mentioned above has a disadvantage that for forming the hollow space in the ferrule, the tenon of the shaft can only be inserted into the bore in the ferrule for a predetermined distance less than the total length of the bore. This limitation results in that the ferrule would easily be cracked or depart from the shaft of the cue.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved ferrule for billiard/pool cue which can tightly engage with the shaft of the cue while forming a hollow space therein to absorb the impact forces generated during the impact of the cue on a ball and in the same time the absorbing impact force function thereof is better than that of any other prior art ferrules.